


Just Give Me a Try

by profound-boning (farawaystardust)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - No supernatural, Bouldering, Dean Has a Fear of Heights, Experienced Climber Cas, Experienced Climber Sam, Gen, M/M, Meet-Cute, Newbie Dean, Openly Bisexual Dean, Rock climbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:18:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9580229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farawaystardust/pseuds/profound-boning
Summary: “C’mon Dean,” Sam prods. “You think Cas is hot even though he’s a hippie, don’t you.”It would take a hell of a lot of courage to ask a guy like Cas out on a date.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Supernatural Prompt Challenge. January theme: Emotions. My prompt: Courage. [x](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8GRiiaef3s)
> 
> eternal love to my beautiful betas [kat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/earlwyn/pseuds/punkascas/) and [ashley](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jhoom/) for all of their support 
> 
> rated T for cursing

On a chilly Thursday evening, Dean’s perspective on climbing nerds like Sam changes.

Sure, he’d seen some good-looking people at Sam’s favored gym before, employees and fellow climbers alike. But this guy takes the cake.

How the hell Dean had never seen him before he doesn’t know, but he’s ready to give thanks to all major deities he knows of for Sam wanting to go to this 'setter’s meeting.'

Sam had explained in the car that the setters are employees of the gym who design and then install new routes on a weekly basis.

“They do all kinds of training and certification for it,” he’s saying, tapping his foot excitedly. “And it’s amazing to watch them work. Who even has the brain for that sort of thing?”

Dean just nods, pulling into the parking lot next to the warehouse which houses the gym. It looks so drab and inconspicuous on the outside, you’d never guess there’s a lively bunch of hippie rock climbers inside.

He’s uncertain about what possible contributions he could make. He’s only been climbing half a dozen times, he didn’t even know what a _heel hook_ was until two days ago.

Sam has been rock climbing seriously for about two years, ever since he took a class at his college on a whim. Turns out it’s the perfect form of exercise for a Sasquatch, and he’s been raving about it to Dean ever since. Dean was wary at first but he finds himself enjoying it a little more every time they go together.

Kind of like California, actually. Dean had been nervous as hell to move away from Kansas, from everything he’s ever known. But in truth, there was nothing left for him in Lawrence. Just a childhood tinged with sadness. And Sam always sounded so damn happy on the phone and over Skype. He’d found a great place to be, but he still missed his brother. Dean couldn’t begrudge him that, obviously, since he’d felt the same way. Turns out the best solution for both of them was the same: that Dean move out to Palo Alto. He’d been scared, but so far it's been worth it.

When they step into the gym, they greet Hannah at the front desk. Sam spots a couple of his friends right away and Dean sprawls out on the largest couch in the sitting area. His eye is drawn to where Sam is pulling on his favorite pair of climbing shoes. They’re completely flat on the bottom though if you look closely you can see the curve from heel to toe, where the shoe is pointed and made for a climber to perch on their toes, no matter how small the foot hold.

 _Should I even rent shoes?_ He wonders if other regulars come in to climb while the setters are working.

“You’ll need shoes, won’t you?” A gruff voice suddenly speaks from above him. Dean looks up and is momentarily mesmerized by striking blue eyes and a dark, scruffy jawline.

“Uh,” he stalls. Dean stands up and is pleased to find he’s got an inch or two on this guy. “M’not really sure I need ‘em. Not sure if I can climb while they’re, uh, setting. The, uh. The routes.”

One eyebrow raised, the guy looks Dean up and down. _(No it is not like that, mind out of the gutter, Winchester.)_ “You certainly don’t have to climb if you don’t want to, but we could always use a beginner’s input. I want you to be just as successful as an experienced climber.” He extends one hand towards Dean, who takes a moment to appreciate the geometric tattoo on the man’s tanned forearm. “I’m Cas.”

“Dean.” He shakes Cas’s hand in greeting and takes in the Bouldering Club t-shirt stretched across his muscular chest. “You work here?”

“Yep.” Cas pops the ‘p’ sound with a small smile. “Moved out here a few years ago for training and I never left.”

“That’s my brother.” Dean jabs his thumb in Sam’s direction. “He graduated from Stanford and kinda convinced me that Palo Alto is more exciting than Kansas ‘bout six months ago. Convincing me to climb with him was a little more recent though.”

Cas’s smile grows. “It’s cool he got you into it. I recognize him. Sam, right?”

“Yeah.” Dean nods, crossing his arms over his chest. For some reason, realizing that Cas met Sam first creates an ugly black storm cloud in his gut.

“So, is it your first time at a setter’s meeting, then?” Cas continues, his posture open and friendly.

Dean nods again and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sam coming their way.

“Hey,” Sam greets with a little nudge to Dean’s shoulder. “Glad to see you making friends, you old geezer. Told’ya not everyone here is a ‘hippie douchebag.’”

He flushes and pushes at Sam’s shoulder with a bit more aggression than Sam had used.

But Cas just laughs. “Well, I’m probably guilty of being a hippie. I plead the fifth on douchebaggery, though.”

“Try not to use too much lawyer talk, Cas,” Dean warns. “You’ll get him all hot and bothered.”

“Hey!” This time Sam smacks Dean with more force. Cas chuckles again.

“A lawyer from Stanford, huh?”

“I guess that’s me,” Sam concedes. “I hope he hasn’t told you any more or I’ll have to go back and let you know what’s fact and fiction.”

“It’s all right, Sammy, I didn’t tell him about the Superman undies.” Dean dodges another hit.

“But if you had, then I could’ve told you about my Batman ones,” Cas interjects.

“Oh no,” Sam sighs with a very put-upon air. “Now you’ve done it.”

Cas just looks confusedly at Sam while Dean quickly covers up the no doubt hungry look on his face.

“Now it’s Dean who’s all hot and bothered.”

“All right, all right,” Dean shoves both Sam and Cas towards the wall. “Maybe you two losers should be over there. Working. Or something.”

He watches the pair amble over to the group of other employees in matching Bouldering Club t-shirts. A short guy with floppy honey colored hair gives both of them a tight hug. A handsome black woman hands Cas a box of the colorful rock thingys and after saying something to Sam, she punches him in the shoulder (Dean likes her already).

“Let’s get to it then.” Cas and his team begin adding the first of the rocks—uh, foot holds—at the bottom of the wall. The noise of their drills is near deafening, thanks to the acoustics of the gym. But it’s mesmerizing to watch them add, step back, adjust, and study what they’re creating. After a while, Sam and a few other people in regular athletic clothing and climbing shoes step up to test out the first couple of moves.

The two employees that Dean had noticed earlier are named Gabriel and Raphael respectively. He learns this because they and Cas seem to be the most experienced. Also because people keep yelling at Gabe to quit fucking around.

Dean also enjoys overhearing Cas teasing Sam for his height.

“Dean.”

He’s startled by the sound of his name.

“Dean.” Cas beckons to him this time. “Come over here.”

Dean bites his lip and rises from the couch. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and shuffles over.

“What’s up?”

“Can you please try this?” He points to some small looking hand holds. Dean bites his lip, considering.

“But—but I’m not—”

“Please.” Oh no. Cas has big blue puppy dog eyes to rival Sam’s.

“I—. Okay, fine.” Dammit.

He goes back to the front desk and Hannah hands him the correct pair of shoes and he changes into them swiftly. Standing next to Cas again, he eyeballs the green starting position. His cheeks are warm with blush as he looks at the holds higher on the wall. (He still doesn’t know what Sam _sees_ exactly when he does this. Something about 'planning your route' and 'looking at the whole problem.' Dean’s not sure. They just look like colorful rocks to him.) Of course, it’s only about halfway complete at the moment. Cas smiles at him encouragingly.

Dean levers himself onto the wall, gripping the two hand holds tightly, perched on the smaller foot holds. Gingerly, he reaches up. Steps on another foot hold. Balances. Looks around. Up again. Slowly he finds each position and soon enough he’s reached what is, so far, the end of the route.

Cas is grinning at him from the ground. “That was great, Dean. Exactly what I wanted.”

Dean looks up to the ceiling to avoid letting _that_ train of thought grow any more inappropriate.

“Hop down so I can keep going.”

Uh. Dean’s stomach knots up. His toes are only about five feet off the ground, but his six-foot frame makes it seem like eleven feet and, oh God, what if he lands wrong and damages something? They can’t take care of medical bills right now. What—

“Dean,” Cas calls him back to the moment gently. “There’s a crash pad underneath you now. Try downclimbing. Just go in reverse and back down the way you came up until you’re comfortable jumping off.”

_Deep breath. Okay._

He follows Cas’s advice and lowers himself to the ground. But once he’s there, he can’t bring himself to make eye contact with Cas. Not only is the guy smoking hot, but he’s an experienced climber, like Sammy, and probably has no worries about leaping from the top of the wall.

But Cas doesn’t say anything about it, just claps Dean on the shoulder and moves towards the wall to make adjustments. Dean awkwardly shuffles further away, giving the other employees and climbers space.

Later, after all of the routes on the north and south walls have been reset and Dean is driving them home in the Impala, Sam jumps at the chance to give Dean a little grief.

“C’mon, Dean,” he prods. “You think Cas is hot even though he’s a hippie, don’t you.”

“Whatever, man.” Thank goodness it’s dark enough to (hopefully) hide his blush.

“Well, he certainly likes you,” Sam says with an air of smug satisfaction. “I can tell.”

“And how on Earth could you possibly know that?” Really, he should win an Oscar for how chilled out and not at all interested he sounds.

“The way he was checking you out, for starters.” Sam smirks at him. “Plus, I dunno, Cas isn’t really… friendly? Not that he’s an asshole, but in all the times I’ve seen him I haven’t seen him talking to other people a lot. If he’s at the desk, he’s courteous, but he’s not chatty. He doesn’t do private lessons. If he’s helping someone else climb, he’s straight to the point and it’s over. I don’t even know how he knew my name, except that I’ve been there so often. Gabe talks with everyone and Raphael gives the most lessons and even Hannah is more sociable than Cas is. So, why you?”

“Why me what?”

“Don’t be obtuse Dean. There were other climbers there tonight, weren’t there? But he went over to where you were sitting and asked you to climb his routes. Why would he do that, when really it’s better to have someone experienced with plenty of stamina to do it? Hmmm, I wonder.” Sam finishes mockingly, nudging Dean’s shoulder.

Dean tosses and turns for over an hour that night thinking about what Sam said and smiling furiously into the darkness of his bedroom.

:     :     :     :     :

Sam starts doing yoga in the mornings to supplement his rock climbing training.

“It’s important to be flexible,” he explains from where he’s laying on the ground, his right leg hiked up and knee touching the ground on the other side of his left hip. Dean recalls that position from the yoga he did in college, and mourns the fact that his busy and at times stressful schedule (combined with his aggressive-anti-morning policy) has eliminated the practice from his weekly routine.

So the next time Sam rolls out his mat (and at a much more reasonable 11:00 AM) Dean shuts his laptop and joins him.

They quietly move through whatever video Sam had chosen, and Dean relishes the comfortable silence, focusing on his breath and muscles. As they lay in child’s pose at the end of the session, Dean is visited by the notion that maybe talking it out with his brother would be helpful.

“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you’re right about Cas.” Dean unfolds and rearranges his legs so he’s sitting comfortably. “What exactly am I supposed to do about that?”

“Just ask him out, man!” Sam smiles widely. “Lay on some of that Dean Winchester charm and say please.”

Well sure, it’s easy to be flirtatious and confident when he talking to a woman. But dudes? Ever since his crush on Aaron Bass in tenth-grade biology class, Dean has been a hot damn mess when it comes to men. Asking Tracy Bell to Prom? Easy. Victor Henriksen asking him to dinner when they were in college? Dean could barely string a sentence together in order to accept the date, much less actually be a good conversation partner on said date.

“Okay, now let’s pretend I don’t know how to ask him.”

Sam lets out a deep sigh and rolls his eyes at his brother. “You do and you _can._ Next time he’s at the gym at the same time as us, you could ask him for pointers. Or compliment him, or something. Oh! Maybe you’ll buy one of their water bottles and drink it right in front of him. Really tilt your head back and show off your neck. Put on hand on your back and arch real seductive-like. Oh, and let some of the water spill out around your lips, so plush wrapped around that bottle, your chin dripping—”

Dean has Sam in a headlock as they wrestle across their yoga mats.

“—I’m just saying,” Sam wheezes. “You would certainly get his attention!”

One apology breakfast sandwich later, Sam is apparently ready to give _actual_ advice.

“But seriously,” he's saying between bites. “Cas doesn’t seem to be shy or standoffish. Just… antisocial? Talk to him about that diner you like so much down by the school and see if he’ll go with you sometime. The worst that can happen is he says no.”

From his spot at the counter, Dean internally winces. To be frank, a simple no is actually _not_ the worst possible outcome, and Dean has always been a little sensitive to rejection.

It would take a hell of a lot of courage to ask a guy like Cas out on a date.

:     :     :     :     :

The test of Dean’s courage follows quickly, as Sam and Dean both have the next Thursday night free, and decide to go to the gym together.

Sam is giving him pointers on his technique in the car, which normally Dean appreciates wholeheartedly, except for his comments about getting back down.

“It’s really not that bad,” Sam is saying, fiddling with his bag in his lap. “Like it’s not that high up. The floor is very soft. You’d be fine.”

“Sam,” Dean protests. “It’s—it doesn’t matter that the floor is soft. I get that.”

“Okay, but then you can just jump.” Sam looks at him. “Just try it.”

Dean heaves a sigh. It’s impossible to get through to Sam about this, probably due to the difference in experience level between them. Sam has been doing this for a long time, it doesn’t phase him anymore. But Dean is still more than a little bit terrified of that drop.

When they enter the gym, Dean is struck momentarily speechless when Cas is _right there_ at the front desk. Sam is, of course, unperturbed.

“Hey, Cas,” he greets, scans in, and moves towards the lockers.

“Good evening Sam. Dean.” Cas smiles at them both. “How are you?” He asks, accepting Dean’s cash payment.

“Doin’ all right.” Sam returns his smile easily and puts his stuff away, retrieving his chalk bag and shoes. “And yourself?”

“No complaints.” Cas gives Dean his change and a pair of shoes and he winks, causing Dean’s knees to feel wobbly.

Dean quickly joins Sam, who gives him an exasperated eye roll. But he still shares his chalk when they approach the nearest section of wall.

For almost half of an hour, Dean focuses entirely on the routes in front of him. He sticks to the easy V0s and relishes the pleasant burn in his arms and shoulders.

He’s made his way back towards the front of the gym, and now stands in front of a V1, ready to challenge himself a little more. It looks do-able. A few large hand holds _(jugs,_ Sam’s voice reminds him) high on the wall look promising. He can totally climb this one.

Hands and feet in their starting positions, Dean hoists himself up and reaches his hand out for the next hold. Adjusts his feet. Looks around. Uh…

With a grimace, he drops down. He thinks he can feel Cas’s gaze on the side of his head, so he avoids moving his eyes anywhere but the wall. He begins the same route again. Up. Hands. Feet. Reaches for a different hand hold, but then he’s stretched out like a starfish with nowhere to go.

“If I may.” Cas’s gruff voice startles Dean and he quickly jumps down again.

“Uh—I uh, couldn’t really get—. Um.”

“It’s quite all right Dean,” Cas takes a step towards him with nothing but genuine kindness in his expression. “Really, it’s a matter of technique over anything else. You’re still new, these things will happen.”

Dean just nods and moves away from the wall in order to see whatever Cas is about to show him, but Cas stops him with a hand to his bicep. (He pointedly ignores how wide and strong those hands are and definitely, totally avoids considering other ways these hands might grab him.)

“No, no, get up there again. It’ll be easier to help that way.” Cas prods him back into position. Dean prays his blush isn’t as noticeable as it feels and grips the hand holds of his starting position tightly before bringing his feet to their own holds. He’s about to move his hands when Cas stops him.

“Whenever you’re ready to move, always try to move your feet first. Once you’re balanced with your feet underneath you, all you have to do is stand up and reach for the next hand hold.”

 _Oh._ That actually makes a lot of sense. Dean steps his left foot up into the next highest foot hold, then looks to his left to move his hand up, too.

“Good,” Cas praises. “Keep going like that.”

Dean smiles slightly and moves his right foot. Reaches out. He’s about to move his left hand again when he remembers Cas’s advice, and he opts to move his foot first. In a matter of minutes, he’s approaching the top of the wall, where the tape indicates the end of the route. He takes in a deep inhale and exhale before extending his torso and his right arm straight up to the top. His left hand joins a moment later and he stands comfortably at the top.

Cas applauds him from below and Dean positively beams at him.

Of course, now he actually has to _get down_ from there.

A glance over his shoulder confirms that he is _way_ too high up to consider jumping down right away. Instead, Dean downclimbs a few feet before jumping, and he still winds up letting out a weird 'oof' noise and rolling onto his butt once he gets there. But Cas still offers him a hand getting up, and Dean blushes but accepts.

“Thanks, man,” he says. Cas is, remarkably, still holding Dean’s hand in both of his own.

“You’re doing great, Dean. Just keep practicing, you’ll see.” Cas’s smile tends to quirk up on one side of his mouth and Dean’s already a little in love with it.

“Go out with me tonight?”

Oops.

Those sappy feelings about Cas’s smile (and his eyes and his hands and—) got the better of his brain.

“Uh, I—”

“I have to close up the gym at eight,” Cas interrupts him. “But there’s a place just down Broadway that I really like. If you’re cool with hipster coffee places and whatnot.”

Cas fucking _winks_ at him and Dean is lost.

It’s all right though. Something tells him he doesn’t need to be afraid of this particular jump.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are so appreciated! Also you can like or reblog [on tumblr](http://profound-boning.tumblr.com/post/156827428924/)


End file.
